


Sucker

by stxrmborn



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Mutual Pining, Romance, Soulmates, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, dad's a vampire hunter lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:16:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29981361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stxrmborn/pseuds/stxrmborn
Summary: After Bella Swan ultimately decides to choose Jacob when he imprints on her, Edward Cullen is left in shambles ... and the last thing he expected was for Sage Romano to pick up the pieces.
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Original Character(s), Edward Cullen/Original Female Character(s), Jacob Black/Bella Swan, Jacob Black/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. HEARTBREAK

##### 

#####  _We're a little more than friends,_

#####  _A little less than lovers._

##### THE OAK RIDGE BOYS

#### CHAPTER ONE

##### HEARTBREAK

#####  **__________________________**

**IT** felt like his pale, grey heart was caving into his chest.

He didn't know how he was going to handle it. He knew something was wrong when they traveled back home from Volterra, and she didn't take his hand or lace her arm through his. She simply curled herself up on the plane, remaining quiet as the memories of the Volturi echoed in her head. He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, that he was _here_ now – but something was holding him back. He could never read her mind, but something had told him that her distance was worse than he could've ever imagined. He should've expected this.

They stood under the apple tree on her front lawn, him leaning against his silver Volvo as the clouds gathered in the sky. Bella kept chewing on her bottom lip as she repeated the word, _sorry_ , over and over again. It sounded like she was pleading with him to forgive her. Edward could've sworn he saw Jacob in her kitchen window, watching their conversation with narrowed eyes. His thoughts were too obscene to say out loud.

"I don't know how ... to make this easier," Bella said, rubbing her arm, "but you know it has to happen, Edward."

He bit the inside of his cheek, yet his expression didn't show a hint of frustration. He wouldn't allow himself to crack. "I know."

"Imprinting is a serious thing, and after you left ... Jacob was there for me when no one else was." A corner of her mouth lifted, and the infamous Bella Swan smile appeared for a mere second. Edward's breath hitched. "He brought me out of my lowest point. I'm happy with him."

Edward stayed quiet.

"That doesn't mean that I was never happy with you, or that I never loved you," Bella continued, "because I did. _So much_. You have to know that."

"I'm happy for you," he said, without a hint of delight in his tone. How could he feel anything _but_ grief when a girl was tearing his frozen heart out? "I just want to make sure you know the life you're choosing. It's humanity. A human ending – something I've always wanted for you." _But not without me_.

Bella smiled, and a cool breeze swept the dark strands of hair off her shoulders. Biting down on her bottom lip, she replied, "I know what I'm choosing."

He wanted to be happy for her – _truly_ , he did. Edward always wanted her live out a full, _human_ life. He wanted her to go to college, start her own family, grow old with her partner. He never wanted her to become a monster. But not like this. _Never_ like this. Edward believed that Jacob could take care of her, and he knew the rules of imprinting – he just never expected things to turn out this way.

At least, maybe Charlie would be happy. Edward wished he could say the same.

He wanted to leave town again after that day. He tried his best to convince Carlisle that Forks held nothing for them, and his siblings watched on with dread. Edward was absolutely _manic_. They hadn't seen him this way since his rebellion days. He screamed at Carlisle to listen, for any of them to _listen_. None of them understood how difficult it would be to live in Forks now. Not only did Edward lose his mate, but their family lost a friend.

"You have to think _rationally_ , son," Carlisle cooed, resting a stone-cold hand on Edward's shoulder. "No one has suspected anything since our departure. My career flourishes in Forks, and you all must graduate."

Emmett held a fist to his mouth and coughed, " _Again_."

Carlisle shot him a glare before turning back to Edward. " _Regardless_ , Forks has given us all we could have ever wanted. Allow us a few more months." He shook Edward's shoulder again, causing the younger man to straighten up. Edward rubbed at his eyes, which were bloodshot, highlighting the golden irises even more than usual. "Don't think of this as an ending. If you love Bella enough, you'll let her go."

"And the future is always changing, Edward," Alice reminded. "You don't know what it will hold."

Looking at the faces of his family, he supposed they were right, but that didn't mean that the last couple of months ar Forks High School weren't going to be harder than ever. Esme gave him a warm smile and placed an arm around his back – usually a calming gesture, but all he wanted right now was to curl up in his room and never come out. He was never this dramatic, and he could tell that he was scaring them by the look in Jasper's eyes. Edward suddenly didn't care. He lost his mate, and he was sure this mind-numbing sadness would last for the rest of his existence.

Forever was going to be so much longer.

#####  **__________________________**

Sage Ramano had been the new girl at least five times now. She thought that Idaho was going to be their last stop before she finally went to college, but then her father _insisted_ that Forks, Washington – the middle of _butt-fuck-nowhere_ – was where they needed to be. Sage was the new girl yet again, and she prayedit would be the last time.

Her father liked to travel a lot because of his "secret profession." Well, it wasn't _exactly_ a secret; Hugo just didn't want a lot of people to know. Telling your new neighbors that you're a supposed vampire connoisseur had never worked out in his favor. So much so that Hugo had been building up his own pest control service that he used as a mask for his vampire hunting business. Sage thinks of his profession very loosely – it wasn't _really_ a business, more like a hobby.

However, it was a hobby that was killing her. Not only were his theories absolutely _crazy_ , but the moving was also making her go insane. She _hated_ moving, and she _hated_ being the new girl. It always made her feel like a doe prancing into a sea of hunters. They had stayed in Idaho for a little over a year, which was a new personal best for them. The longest they had ever stayed in a place was eight months. She never liked packing, or leaving a place she finally got settled in, especially their house in Idaho. It was the first place she felt actually at home. The house was big – but not _too big_ – and the people of Fernwood were nice and welcoming. The teenagers there left her alone, but she still managed to gather a nice group of friends that didn't care that her father believed in all things that went bump in the night.

But that all came crashing down when Hugo announced that they were moving – _again_ – to the rainy town of Forks, Washington. Forks was _quite literally_ a barren wasteland under a constant cover of clouds and rain. Population one-thousand-one-hundred-and-twenty people. Her dad liked to scour the depths of online forums, which consisted of people as crazy as he was, and they all said that Forks was where he needed to be. It was practically _crawling_ with supernatural activity, if you could find it, and he vowed to.

"This will be good for us," Hugo had said, keeping his hands tight on the wheel of the U-Haul. "A new place is always good for us."

Sage rolled her eyes and leaned back in the passenger seat. "You're making me go to a new school right at the end of the school year. Can I at least finish high school before you decide to pack up again?"

Hugo only laughed, but Sage didn't find any of it funny. Sometimes, he laughed to cover the hurt inside, or the real reason for his hyper fixation with the supernatural. His hobby had really started after her mom's car accident three years ago, where Hugo was _sure_ that he witnessed her body being pulled out of the wreckage by a tall man with gleaming red eyes. A fantasy, _of course_ , one that helped him cope with her death. It was difficult to continue on when your whole family is in an accident and only two are left standing with the memories of bright headlights and the sound of metal crushing in on itself. Sage understood that her father needed to cope and that living in their old house had been hard, but the incessant moving wasn't helping either.

"You'll like Forks," Hugo continued, turning to get off at their final exit. The U-Haul made a loud bump in the back as he increased speed, and Sage looked out at the blanket of clouds already forming above them. "It's different, and it'll be _great_ for my work."

Sage exhaled heavily and tucked her earbuds in, looking through her iPod Nano for the latest Jack Johnson album. "I'm sure it will, dad," she muttered, lifting her head for a moment to eye the small picture of her mom that hung from Hugo's rear-view mirror. It dangled off one of her favorite pearl necklaces, along with a fake flower lei that reminded her dad of their honeymoon. Sage felt her chest get tight, and she looked back to her iPod.

So that's what led her here: to their small, yellow, two-bedroom home in Forks, Washington. Hugo was impressed with the place because of the basement. "I can use this for business!" He exclaimed, tugging Sage down the staircase. She lingered by the end of the stairs as he danced around the dark cellar. "It can be like ... my _man cave_."

Her first day had been two months before junior year ended. It was nothing short of horrible. Not only was it awful to be the new girl in the middle of the school year, but because the population of Forks was so small, every time they got a new kid, it was like they were seeing a shiny new toy. They ogled her as if she had green skin or fangs, or even _both_ , but hardly anyone approached her. She guessed it was because of her resting bitch face.

She couldn't wait to leave Forks next year. Really, though – she was counted down the days on her calendar. Despite the fact that she was, _indeed_ , a fan of rain and thunderstorms, Sage just didn't want to be there. She received early admission from the University of Phoenix to study writing, and she was determined to make move-in day her last moving experience for a long time.

However large her distaste was for the tiny town, Sage recognized that this was her home now. Hopefully, until the end of senior year, if she was lucky. She decided that it was time to make the last few months of high school worth it. Maybe she could talk to more people, participate better in gym class, or be an overall happier person. Sometimes she liked to practice better facial expressions in the mirror. _That_ could finally come in handy.

The only problem was ... she wasn't _exactly_ a people person. She was now almost halfway into her senior year and she still sat alone at lunch. Even Margo Richards, one of the most _annoying_ girls in her class, had people to sit with. As Sage walked the halls of Forks High, watching all her classmates giggle and talk about how graduation was just seven months away, she realized that all these people had gotten to know each other over the course of four years, and because she came in just a few months prior, she hardly spoke to anyone. She was a _nobody_ , and that was saying something in a small town like Forks.

Adjusting the strap of her backpack, Sage opened her locker and dug through her textbooks to find the right one for her first class of the day. She looked to the side, eyeing an old picture of her family at some carnival, and to the right, a polaroid of her and Blaire Ateara, arms locked around each other in a loving embrace.

Sage hated that they went to two different schools, but Blaire was a reminder that even though Sage never connected with anyone at Forks High School, she at least had a best friend on the La Push reservation. Blaire liked to call her a spot of sunshine in the sea of pale faces.

They actually met because she caught Sage and Hugo – mainly, Hugo, of course – snooping around the reservation, just because Sage's father wanted to find clues about the theories he read online. After Sage apologized for her father's insistent meddling, Blaire realized she liked them and invited the two into her home to discuss the history of the reservation with her mom. Sage and Blaire had been inseparable ever since.

But it was a new day, and Sage was going to shake off her resting bitch face once and for all. As she closed her locker, she noticed Tyler Crowley walking by her. She threw him one of those wide-eyed, crooked grins that she practiced in the mirror, and Tyler stared at her with confusion.

Maybe having more friends wasn't worth it.

#####  **__________________________**

As the last semester of school rolled in, that meant new lab partners in Chemistry, which just had to be the cherry on top of Sage's day. At least, this was her last class, and it was only in a mere matter of months that she wouldn't have to worry about changing lab partners, or even chemistry in general, unless she was stupid enough to take a class on it in college.

Slinging her old green backpack through her right arm, Sage meandered through the crowded halls of Forks High, bumping shoulders with the stoner kids that didn't understand that they were _always_ in the way. She huffed under her breath when she arrived at the door for Chemistry, peering through the window to see her new lab partner already in his seat. Pursing her lips, she recognized Riley Biers scrunching his brows together with perplexity as he stared at the paper in front of him. Sage spied her name on a card right next to his seat.

 _Just talk to him_ , she told herself. _That's all you have to do. This is good for you. Make this last semester your bitch_. Like it was that easy.

With a shake of her head, Sage barged through the door and strode over to her stool beside Riley. Once she was near, his head went up, blonde curls moving with him. She almost stumbled, as if his stare struck her like lightning. His eyes were gleaming, and he threw her that infamous Riley Biers' smile that made most girls weak in the knees.

Sage swallowed hard and took the seat on his right. His hand shot out, startling her as she pulled a notebook out of her backpack. "I'm Riley," he said.

She took his hand in hers, shaking it firmly as she replied, "I know." Her throat closed up for a short moment. "I mean – hi, I'm Sage. Nice to meet you."

He chuckled at her response.

Sage couldn't stop her cheeks from heating up. _You idiot!_ Her mind chastised. _Just because he's popular doesn't mean you can say things like that!_ Instead of listening to her judgmental subconscious, Sage threw him her best grin, which looked more awkward than she presumed.

"Nice to meet you, Sage," he muttered, glancing back to the papers on his desk. Sage looked down and noticed that he was flipping through their semester schedule. "I hope you're good with chemistry. I'm usually a hassle to work with, because I have trouble understanding it."

Sage shrugged. "I'm okay," she said, turning to a blank page in her notebook. Labeling the top of the paper with today's date, she turned back to Riley and met his worried stare. She smiled. "Guess we'll learn together."

Riley blushed, and Sage's chest suddenly went tight. She didn't get a lot of guys smiling at her like that. Well, except for Quil, Blaire's younger cousin, who was always asking her when Sage would be visiting the Rez. Quil looked at Sage like she had stars in her eyes, but she only saw him like a little brother. And now, Riley Biers ... he was giving her the same look. Sage's mouth went dry.

The bell rang then, bringing both Riley and Sage out of their trance. Their teacher, Mrs. Leman, went forward to close the door, but it was suddenly flying open, the hinges almost breaking off, as a tall body sauntered through the door. Sage tucked a strand of dark hair from her face, barely looking up to watch the person walk by her desk. Mrs. Leman began to speak and congratulated the seniors on their last semester, but Riley was already leaning over, getting ever so close to Sage's ear.

"Boy, Edward Cullen hasn't been looking too hot lately," he whispered, causing her back to straighten. "He's been paler than usual since he moved back to Forks. Don't you think?"

Sage didn't look back, though she could practically _feel_ Edward's presence behind her. She didn't think that she had the right to talk about him, nor did she want to. They had barely spoken a word to each other. Well, she did have the habit of staring at his family just a little too often – but that was beside the point.

He didn't know her. She didn't know him. All she knew was the usual shpeel that Margo Richards told every new kid: "The Cullens aren't _that_ weird. They're just these absurdly beautiful teenagers, who are all really smart. But not smarter than me." (Whoever put her in charge of the Welcoming Committee made a huge mistake.)

"Um," Sage cleared her throat, trying to keep her eyes trained on Mrs. Leman's bizarre handwriting. "I don't know him. I've never spoken to the Cullens, so ... I wouldn't know."

Riley snickered, "Probably a good thing. The Cullens are freaks." He shrugged casually, leaning back in his stool as he muttered, "I'd get paler too if my girlfriend of almost two years broke up with me for another guy."

Sage's eyes went wide, and they instinctively flickered over her shoulder, where Edward kept his golden stare on his paper. His face was covered by his hand, knotted in between his bronze-colored locks. He wasn't scribbling notes like the rest of the class. Instead, his pen rested right by his notebook, while his right hand formed into a fist.

Sage didn't want to feel pity, and _why_ shouldshe? They weren't friends; not even acquaintances. But somehow, she knew someone like Edward wouldn't want pity from her either, especially when his eyes were suddenly burning into hers, as if he could set her on fire with his very stare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Sucker! This fanfiction is being cross-published on my Wattpad account (@stxrmborn) as well. I really hope you guys like this fic, because it's gonna different from the more serious things I've posted on here! It's funny and fluffy, but also a bit serious. I don't want Sage to be a clone of Bella, but it's kinda hard when it's another story of Edward being with a human lol. He's going to be hesitant with confronting his feelings for Sage, though, due to the struggles he endured with Bella, only to end up alone (lmao Bella how cOULD YOU 🤯). This fic will also involve the insanely popular fake dating trope because I'm a sucker for it (*wink wink*). And it's also a cool way for them to be soft and for Sage to find out about vampires!!!
> 
> An important thing to note: the timeline for this fic. It will start at the end of New Moon and go through Eclipse, but the plot will be pretty AU. (The newborn war is still happening, but other things will change.) I'll be playing with the timeline a little bit because things happen WAAAAAY too fast in the canon. The end of New Moon happens around the end of March 2006, but I'm going to make them return from Volterra at the beginning of December 2005 to give us some extra time for plot building!
> 
> Also, if you're interested in face claims I have so you can imagine the characters better, I have casted Alexxis Lemire as Sage, Robert Pattinson is still Edward, Adam Rodriguez as Hugo Ramano (Sage's dad), Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs as Blaire Ateara, Diana Silvers as Bella Swan, Michael Hudson as Jacob Black, and Taissa Farmiga as Margo Richards. You can imagine the characters any way you want, but this is my personal casting!
> 
> Finally, the warnings: please be aware this fic features past trauma, cursing, violence, and (possible) character deaths. Do not read if you are uncomfortable with those.
> 
> If you also would like to read this on Wattpad, here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/190443940-sucker-%E2%94%81-edward-cullen


	2. CLAIMING

#### CHAPTER TWO

##### CLAIMING

#####  **__________________________**

**RAIN** battered against the windshield of Hugo Ramano's 2002 Chevy Avalanche. He turned up the speed of his wipers, hardly able to see the road, as Sage sat back in her seat. She closed her eyes for a moment, relishing in the sound of the rain pattering over the roof of her dad's blue truck, but groaning whenever he would mutter a soft, "Shit," under his breath. What she would give for just a few more minutes of sleep before class.

Hugo usually drove his daughter to school throughout the week. It wasn't that much of a nuisance to him, seeing as he got up at six AM _every single day_ , and there was no way she'd be able to get to school otherwise. She didn't have a license, or a car, for that matter. He never really understood why, but Sage had always been content with the lack of independence. Driving just reminded her of her mother's accident. The last time her dad tried to teach her to drive, she almost backed into a telephone pole, as the memory of bright headlights danced across her vision.

She didn't need a car. She didn't need to drive.

"So," Hugo said, clearing his throat. Sage's eyes snapped open. "How was the _first_ week of your _last_ high school semester?" He ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. "Boy, it was just last year that you were –"

Sage grumbled, "If you say, 'Learning how to walk,' I swear to _God_ –"

"I was _going_ to say," he chuckled, "since you were using my little, wooden stakes on your teddy bears. That was good practice, right?"

She huffed loudly, turning back to the window as droplets of rain slid further and further down. She remembered that Christmas fondly. The Christmas of 1993. Her mother had gotten her the Polly Pocket house set that she wanted for _months_. Her father, on the other hand ... carved her a fresh pair of wooden stakes that fit perfectly in her little, toddler hands. "She can be just like me when she grows up, honey," Hugo had said to his wife, who responded with a roll of her eyes. He had been joking then. These fantasies and research ... they had all been a joke during the Christmas of 1993. Little did any of them realize how much they would soon consume his life, and his pain. Sage would never be like him when she grew up.

Eventually, she shrugged. "It's fine," Sage muttered. "Just normal school."

"What's ' _normal school_ ,' though?"

"I don't know, dad," she quipped, a hint of malice laced in her tone. She met Hugo's eyes for a moment, and that one look said, _I'm sorry_ , so quietly. She turned back to the windshield as he headed down the one roadway that went through the entire town. "At this point, I just want to graduate."

A grin began to spread on Hugo's face. "Well, I hope you're _just_ as excited about me making a big crack in the case."

Sage lifted her head slightly to roll her eyes without him noticing. As much as she realized that this ... _obsession_ was her father's best coping mechanism, he had to recognize sooner or later that it was all made-up. A fantasy. Masturbation material for horny, nerd guys on the internet that wanted in real life vampire porn.

"What case?" She finally asked, watching her dad pull into a gas station. Sage flipped her phone open and checked the time. Fifteen minutes before school started. They'd have enough time to make it. The last thing she needed was to start being late during her fresh start.

Hugo slid down his window as a worker approached his truck. Rain trickled down into his cushioned seat. "The case of ... what's going on in this town." He turned to the employee at his window. "Fill it up with regular, please."

"And what conclusion have you come to this time?" She asked as her father handed the employee his credit card. Sage wasn't intrigued. She was just merely ... _skeptical_. There was no way his forum sites on the dark web made any sense.

Hugo only grinned.

"Let me guess," Sage continued, counting off her fingers. "There are ... fairies in Forks? No, wait – you think you've seen a Pegasus flying through the sky."

" _No_ ," he snickered, signing his name on a receipt and taking his credit card back. "Pegasuses aren't even _real_."

Sage arched a brow.

Hugo thanked the employee and slowly pulled out of the gas station. Sage opened her phone again. Ten minutes. Her father then resumed his natural smirk, which was almost covered by the grey mustache and beard growing in. "Wolves," he finally answered.

"Wolves," Sage repeated, as if a question was still hanging off the end of her tongue.

"As in, men that turn into wolves."

Sage looked away for a moment, watching her own reflection in the mirror contort into an expression of horror. _He's truly lost it this time, hasn't he?_

She then wrinkled her nose, unable to contain her disbelief. "You think there are _werewolves_ in Forks, Washington."

"That's what all my buddies online are saying! And the history books! It's not that far off, Sagey-poo." He pinched her cheek, and she suddenly smacked his hand away. Her olive-toned skin flushed pink in the spot where he pinched her. "Well, the wolves aren't exactly in Forks. But they're in this vicinity."

He finally took a right down the short, dead-end road that housed the high school. Sage was psyched to be momentarily relieved of this conversation, but her father still went on: "On the La Push reservation, many of the Quileute tribe's founders were born with the wolf gene. This is because they are descendants of the ancient spirit warriors of the Quileute tribe. Their powers were not always concerned with shapeshifting. It was only during the leadership of Taha Aki, A.K.A. their last great spirit chief, that the warriors began to shape-shift into these, I guess, gigantic wolves."

" _Gigantic wolves_?"

Hugo nodded quickly. "The size of _bears_ , even _horses_." Turning his blinker on, he sharply turned into the parking lot of Forks high school. "Ask your friend that lives on the reservation about them. You know, ah –"

" _Blaire_ ," she finished.

"Yes, Blaire," he continued, putting the car in park. "And can you also ask her –"

Sage unbuckled her seatbelt quickly. Six minutes to spare. "Well, as _thrilling_ as this conversation is," she pushed her door out and swung her backpack across her shoulder, "I have school."

Hugo lifted a hand, clearly not through with his story. "Are you at least going to ask Blaire those questions for me?"

"Yeah, yeah, when I see her later." Sage waved it off with her hand, slamming the car door shut and sending her dad off with a wiggle of her fingers.

She rubbed at her eyes, trying to process all the information he just decided to throw at her so early in the morning. It wasn't even eight o'clock yet, and she was already bombarded with her dad's silly hobby. It was a good thing that he was already gaining new clients for his pest control service, or he'd never be able to pay their bills.

Turning on the heel of her shoe, she watched a vintage motorcycle screech as it came to a halt right in front of the steps of the high school. The female riding in back ripped off her helmet, and Sage recognized her as Bella Swan. Sage had moved to Forks just a few months after Bella did, and because the tiny town was still caught up in the presence of the pretty brunette, hardly anyone noticed Sage's arrival. Maybe that was a good thing.

Bella tossed her helmet in the driver's lap, lifting up their chin a little to reveal the handsome face of her boyfriend. Sage adjusted the straps of her backpack as she watched them stick their tongues down each other's throat, and she suddenly regretted it. She felt weird for even looking in the first place. But it was like one of those haunting things, you know? Something so gross that you just _can't_ look away? That was Sage right now, staring at Bella's boyfriend as he snaked his muscular, tan arms around her skinny torso.

Sage had definitely seen him around the Rez. He must've been friends with Quil or something. Shaking her head, she broke herself out of her thoughts, turning away as Bella said goodbye to him. Sage sure hoped her ex hadn't also been staring at that scene of tonsil hockey, but that wish came a little too late.

#####  **__________________________**

Sage had been partners with Riley Biers in Chemistry for more than a week now, and she was surprised to find out that they worked really well together during lab. He talked to her more often than not, and he was smart when he applied himself. They bounced well off each other, seeing as Sage was good with properties and matter, while Riley was really into electrochemistry – a fact that shocked her more than she liked to admit.

So you can probably imagine her surprise when Riley wasn't in his seat the next week after. Sage had raised a brow when she noticed his stool was empty on that cloudy, Tuesday afternoon. She slapped her binder full of notes on the lab table, some papers threatening to fly out before she caught them. Riley didn't _seem_ like a person who would show up late for class, but she had only known him for a little bit. She wasn't one to assume. Nevertheless, she waited impatiently in her seat for the classroom door to open as the hands on the clock ticked on by. The rest of the class had already shuffled in the door. Maybe he could still make it before –

The shrill ring of the bell echoed through her ears.

Sage pursed her lips, opening her notebook to act as if she didn't care, as if nothing was wrong. (Maybe nothing was wrong. Maybe she was overreacting. That was usually the case. She could be _quite_ dramatic.) But then the door was opening, and Sage's head whipped up at the speed of light.

It wasn't Riley at all. In fact, Sage blinked at the sight of the ever-so-gloomy, Edward Cullen. He waltzed through the classroom, as if he was walking on a cloud, while Mrs. Leman began her lesson for the day. Sage had to now find another partner to work with, but she was suddenly too entranced with Edward's presence in the room, and she didn't know _why_. Despite her best efforts, she tried to keep her head down, until she felt his eyes on her, and Sage Ramano sacrificed her own _gosh darn_ dignity just to get a glimpse of his honey-golden irises.

Except ... he wasn't looking at her. No, his eyes weren't on her _at all_. Edward was staring at the empty seat beside her, brows furrowed in confusion, until they lifted in surprised. Sage stared at him, mouth half-open in uncertainty, and finally, their eyes locked. Brown met golden. Sage realized then why Bella Swan had fallen for him so quickly. She didn't blame her.

He was looking away as soon as she blinked, and Sage did everything she could to keep her eyes on the blank page in her notebook. Something about Edward's reaction frightened her. It wasn't that he stared at her – no, it wasn't that at all. It was the expression on his face; the hint of realization in his eyes, as if he knew something she didn't.

#####  **__________________________**

The moss-covered log made Sage's butt feel damp. Despite her attempts to lift up her feet, the end of her jeans still managed to get wet as the rough tides at La Push got closer and closer. A big swell was probably coming in. Sage sat alongside her best friend, Blaire Ateara, who was also trying to find better ways to situate her bare feet on the log so her pants weren't a soggy mess like Sage. It was proving to be quite difficult, though.

The two friends didn't need much to be entertained. Truthfully, they only needed each other, the sand, and the sea. Not to mention, their favorite soggy log. They used it for many beachside chats, like talking about school or spilling out their biggest secrets to each other than no one knew. (Sage didn't have many secrets. Blaire, on the other hand, got up to a little bit of trouble every once in a while on the Rez.) In an era where cellphones were on the rise and the internet was getting bigger and bigger, it was nice to see two teenagers simply enjoy each other's company. Sage had never had that with someone before.

Digging her bare feet out of the wet sand, Sage propped them up on the log, beside her shoes. Her mind felt like it had been spinning for days, and all she needed was the sound of waves crashing against the shore to put her at ease. Riley Biers hadn't shown up to school for almost a week. She tried to rationalize it with herself: he _could_ very well be sick. She didn't know him. She couldn't check to make sure. But Sage couldn't stop this gnawing feeling that it was something different. She tried her best to ignore it.

As they sat on the log, Blaire went on and on about her cousin's friend, Jared, that wouldn't _stop_ kicking her chair in history class, as if he was in second grade. However, Sage couldn't help but wonder if Bella and her new boy-toy also used this log for their tongue-tied makeout sessions, and she began to feel sick.

"Is there a reason why you're so quiet?" Blaire asked, finally taking a breather from her hour-long conversation. She lifted one of her nicely-trimmed brows towards Sage. Her dark hair was pulled into a ponytail, the ends flying through the wind in several different directions.

"I don't know." Sage picked up some sand and let it filter through her fingers. "My lab partner in Chem hasn't been in school for, like, a week."

Blaire popped a large bubble of her gum. "Maybe he's sick. Don't think irrationally." When their eyes met, Blaire saw a hint of doubt in her friend's. "What? You think something's actually wrong?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I don't really wanna talk about it." Sage said, lifting a hand to wave away the subject. Blaire shrugged casually, popping another bubble. "Hey, do you know if Bella Swan's new boyfriend lives around the reservation?"

" _Who_?"

"Bella Swan," Sage repeated. "You know – skinny, brunette, pale as fuck." Blaire still didn't understand, and Sage realized that was probably because she just described most girls from their area. "She dated one of the Cullens for more than a year."

Blaire hit the base of her thigh as realization dawned on her. "Oh! You mean Jacob's girlfriend." She nodded quickly and looked off at the ocean, a grin pulling at the ends of her lips. "You realize that he's been pining over her for _years_? Lucky for him, she finally broke up with that Cullen guy. He was hot, but ... I don't know. He kind of creeped me out."

Sage really didn't understand why everyone thought the Cullens were such freaks. But she guessed that she couldn't blame anyone; we all had different versions of what we found beautiful.

Her curiosity was peaked then, and suddenly, she couldn't stop the next words tumbling out of her pink, glossy lips: "Do you know why they broke up in the first place? Everyone keeps talking about it."

Blaire turned to her friend with a twisted expression, her top lip curled up with a hint of disgust. "Why do you _care_?"

"No reason," Sage shrugged. The brisk wind traveled across the water and hit her in the face, causing her to wrap a flannel tighter around herself. "Call me curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat, baby," Blaire huffed, hauling herself up from the log and wiping the sand off her hands. When she realized that Sage was still looking at her – blinking rapidly, waiting patiently for an answer – Blaire sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Quil has all the hot gossip – not me – and he's hardly willing to share deets about his friends. All I know is that this Bella chick has two guys fighting over her, and she chose to be with Jacob because his 'love was greater,' or something like that. Quil said something to his friends about Jacob's soul, like, _claiming_ her. Whatever that means. Sounds fucked, if you ask me."

Sage turned her head for a moment, trying to process the information in her head. Her eyes scanned First Beach, watching the waves reach the edge of the shore, the pebbles tumbling through wet sand. She felt a sense of power knowing the things that her classmates didn't. While Jessica Stanley or Melinda Cox were gossiping about the infamous breakup of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, _Sage Ramano_ knew the reason – at least, she _thought_ she did.

At the same time, knowing this made her uncomfortable, and she started to imagine how quiet and uneasy Edward Cullen had felt when his longtime girlfriend broke up with him for a guy that had a "greater love for her," or something like that. Must've hurt. Sage wished she didn't know that. She now felt even more pity for a guy she hardly knew.

"Hey, earth to Sage! Can we go inside now?" Blaire asked, cocking her head to the side. Sage shook herself out of her thoughts. "My grandad is making homemade fried chicken, and we really shouldn't miss out on _that_."

And suddenly, Blaire's grandpa's fried chicken became more important than her pity for Edward Cullen ever could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as you can see here, we're most definitely ignoring smeyer's canon lmao. I'm pretty sure Riley is a college student by the end of New Moon/start of Eclipse, but...........we gonna ignore that. As well as a bunch of other things because smeyer's canon can choke 😂


	3. GOD COMPLEX

#### CHAPTER THREE

##### GOD COMPLEX

#####  **__________________________**

**HUGO** had really come into his own over the past year. His pest control business had flourished and he became friends with some of the local police officers at the bar. However, he had been at a standstill for weeks with the hunting business. He kept finding clues that led him to one idea, and more clues for another idea, but none would go anywhere. Possibly finding the true history of the Quileute wolves was his first big break in a long time and he knew it would lead him somewhere bigger, but he had no inkling if the research was true. Nevertheless, he had faith that he could unravel the mystery of Forks, and this might be his first step in doing this.

He also had a strong intuition that vampire rats were haunting the outskirts of Idaho a year ago, and that _obviously_ went nowhere. So maybe he couldn't trust his instinct _that_ much.

Sage usually found him holed up in his basement every night. Sometimes he would forget to make dinner, and Sage would have to bring him down whatever mediocre meal she came up with that night. (She was quite good at making grilled cheeses and spaghetti, but anything besides that was uncharted territory.)

That night, she hobbled down the staircase to her dad's basement, carrying a steaming bowl of spaghetti, topped off with some already-made tomato sauce from the freezer that she hoped was heated enough. Hugo was seated at his desk, surrounded by three monitors that had a different website up on each of them. He usually dedicated one fully to the forum site that he checked on the daily, _Hunters Anonymous_ , while the other two were for research. He had also installed green lights around the cellar, which made it even more terrifying to go down, and placed vials of different, weird things that he bought around the room. For instance, he got conned into buying "the Eye of a Cyclops" at an Oregon Hunters Convention that he had dragged Sage to. Needless to say, it wasn't _really_ the Eye of a Cyclops – more like, a fake eye you could buy at a party store.

Sage stopped at the end of the stairs, balancing on the balls of her feet as she watched her dad hunch over a notebook and scribble down God knows _what_. Breathing in sharply through her nose, she approached him, "Hey, dad –"

Hugo sprang up immediately, ripping off his gold-rimmed glasses. His mustache twitched as he placed a hand on his chest. Sage blinked rapidly, "Um –"

"I'm sorry," he muttered, his breathing erratic as he looked back to the second monitor. "I was so caught up in my research that I –" He shook his head, spinning back around to Sage in his chair. "Never mind. Is that dinner?"

"Uh – yeah, spaghetti." She handed him the bowl, wiping the condensation off her hands.

Hugo took it gratefully, already twirling a mouthful of pasta around his fork and shoving it into his mouth. He spun back to his monitors and set the bowl to the side. Sage took that as her cue to leave, so she turned on her heel and headed for the stairs. Questions kept gnawing in her brain though, and she couldn't stop biting the end of her tongue. Sage rested one foot on the first stair, but quickly found herself spinning back around.

"Dad?"

Hugo slurped another forkful of spaghetti. "Yeah?"

"Have you been reading the papers? Keeping up with the news?"

"Every day, sweetheart," he answered, eyes glued to the middle monitor in front of him.

Sage leaned against the staircase. "Has anyone said anything about Riley Biers?" She asked, teeth sinking into her bottom lip. "He's just this guy I go to school with and I haven't seen him for a little while. I didn't know if something was wrong –"

"It's probably nothing, Sage."

She frowned. Maybe her dad was right, but ... there was something so _odd_ about the situation, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Sage was known to be wary over the simplest of problems, and she _was_ her father's daughter.

But Sage Ramano kept her mouth shut. Like always.

Hugo was suddenly turning in his chair again, an enthusiastic grin pulling at the end of his lips. His glasses were perched on the edge of his nose, and he had no desire to push them up as he pointed to his daughter with an excited expression. "I have news. _Big news_." He paused to shrug. "I think."

Sage's face twisted. "I'm leaving now."

"No, no, wait!" Hugo exclaimed, flailing his hands. "I may have found even more evidence about the supernatural activity around here."

"I don't wanna hear about werewolves again, dad." Sage exhaled heavily, and pointed to the top of the stairs with her thumb. "I got a lot of Trig homework to take care of –"

Hugo shook his head. "No, not werewolves. _Vampires_."

Sage's brow furrowed. This was _not_ happening again. The last time he got in too deep with this vampire bullshit was when they lived in Lewis, Idaho, and he was _absol-fucking-lutely_ sure that their neighbors were trying to grow a vampire army full of children. Turns out, their neighbors were running a _fully-legal_ daycare business and Hugo got the cops called on him for snooping around their house.

"You've got to be kidding me," Sage finally replied. "We're _not_ repeating what happened in –"

"Whatever happened in Lewis is in the _past_ ," he said, pushing away the subject with his hands. "As I was saying, there's been a lot of strange things happening in Seattle lately." He motioned for her to approach, and after a short exhale, Sage patted her slippers over to Hugo's desk.

Bending over his shoulder, Sage squinted at the article he had pulled up on the right monitor. Hugo shoved more spaghetti in his mouth as Sage read the title of the article out loud: " _Murder Rates in Seattle Spike as Election Draws Near_." She met her dad's eyes. "So?"

"For some reason, the Seattle Tribune thinks an upcoming mayor election is causing gang violence throughout the city. I believe it's something deadlier." He scrolled down the article and stopped at an illustrated bar graph, which showed a sudden rise in murder and gang violence throughout the city. "There's something – a group of people – terrorizing the city. The crimes that have been reported are only happening at night and involve people being drained of all the blood in their system."

Sage raised a brow.

"You _cannot_ tell me that isn't suspicious." He took off his glasses, blinking incredulously towards his daughter. "It's vampires! It has to be."

She licked at her bottom lip before standing up straighter, placing her hands on her hips. "Do you ever just ... do your _actual_ job instead of researching things that don't exist?"

Hugo frowned. "I do my job, Sage. I do whatever I can to support this family."

Sage shrugged, a mask of disbelief covering her entire face. "Then why don't you focus on it?"

He rubbed at his temples. No matter what he did – no matter all the research he discovered – there was nothing to convince her of the dangers that surrounded them every day. She could be blind all she wanted, and he respected her decision, but he'd be damned if he ever let become one of these victims. He'd keep her safe.

Hugo opened his mouth to respond, but Sage was already holding her hand up. "I gotta go. Lots of Trig homework." She glanced back at the article for a moment. "See you in the morning."

#####  **__________________________**

Sage got used to seeing an empty seat in Chemistry. She was used to being alone in school. That's just what happens when you're so painfully awkward – you drive people away. (Why did Bella Swan have it so easy?) But the once-occupied seat of her Chemistry lab partner was making her uneasy. The empty seat meant something was wrong, and as the days past, it could mean something far worse.

But it _wasn't_ vampires. She wouldn't feed into her dad's sick fantasy.

She looked over at the seat come Thursday afternoon. Sage sighed, lifting her eyes to the window as droplets of rain slid down the glass. It was pouring – _again_ – and thunder echoed across the dark sky. Students filed in the classroom, their loud and incessant giggles overpowering the storm outside. Sage sighed and began twirling the pen in her hand, only deciding to pay attention when she heard Mrs. Leman call Edward Cullen's name as he entered the room. Suddenly, Sage's eyes were fixated on his stride, and she wondered how he walked like he was gliding on air.

 _He's probably got some kind of God complex_ , she thought.

Mrs. Leman uttered a few words in his ear and Edward nodded, adjusting his backpack strap on his broad shoulder. Sage was biting the end of her pen, unaware that she was staring so obviously until _he_ was walking over to _her_.

Was Edward Cullen her new lab partner?

Her eyes darted around the room, trying to look at anything but his golden stare. But it was hypnotizing, and she didn't realize how crazy she looked until she chewed on her pen cap so hard that it split in two.

Sage pulled the piece of plastic out of her mouth, a trail of spit following with it, as Edward sat down next to her. Mrs. Leman began to speak, pulling out an old TV from the corner of the room, which meant it was movie day. _Thank God_ , Sage thought to herself. _That means I don't have to embarrass myself again in front of a Cullen_. Little did she know, his face was turned away so he could chuckle under his breath, hearing every thought she had.

Mrs. Leman popped in a tape into the VCR and turned the lights off, and it was suddenly just Sage, Edward, and a classroom full of students. She wished Riley was back. He seemed like a guy who would try to make jokes during movie day, which would then distract her from taking notes, but she didn't really care. Edward Cullen was far from that and she knew it just from the icy temperature that exuded from his very bones.

They hardly got through five minutes of the movie before the phone was ringing. Mrs. Leman's dark brows furrowed in confusion, and she hesitantly picked up the phone with a whisper, "Hello?" The person on the other line seemed to drone on, leaving Mrs. Leman to hum a few, _Mm-hmms_ , before finally hanging up.

And then, Sage's teacher was looking at her. "Sage Ramano," she called, "you're wanted in the office."

Sage pursed her lips, wanting to ask why, but no words came up to the surface. She hesitantly looked over at Edward Cullen, who was leaning back in his seat, golden irises already fixated on her. His face was expressionless, but his stare hinted at concern. She didn't have time to worry about that as she stuffed her notebook into her bag and headed out of the classroom, fully aware of Edward's stare burning holes into her back.

It looked like the secretary, Mrs. Dooley, had been waiting for her anxiously when Sage entered the office. She paused her conversation with Margo Richards, who usually hung around these parts of the school, like the do-gooder she was. (Sage was surprised that she hadn't run for student office, but there was no doubt that she would be valedictorian this year.) Margo flipped her straight, caramel-colored hair over her shoulder, eyebrows pulling upwards with distress.

"What's the matter?" Sage asked. She felt penetrated in her spot, and she could hardly move an inch. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, dear," Mrs. Dooley cooed, glancing to Margo for a quick second. "I just got a call for you. From the local hospital."

Sage swallowed down her fear.

"It's your father. He's been in a car accident."

She didn't even have time to tell her that she was excused from class, because Sage Ramano was already running out the door. In a mere matter of seconds, she was shoving herself through the entrance of the school, ready to go to her dad in the pouring rain, and then it hit her.

She didn't have a car. Or a license.

 _Fuck!_ She started breathing heavily. It felt like the whole world was crashing down on her. This was just how it felt after her mom died, after her accident, and now it was happening _all over again_. Sage felt tears prick at her eyes, but she barely noticed them with the raindrops cascading down her face. She pushed wet strands of hair out of her vision, but it was no use. She was stranded. Her dad was in trouble.

Sage wasn't sure if she believed in God, but right now, she was begging for a sign.

And there it was. Not just a sign. _The sign_. Leaning perfectly against the metal rack outside the school's exit was a perfectly pristine BMC bike. Totally unlocked. No chain wrapped around it. Ready to take. Sage bit down on her bottom lip and looked around. There was no one – _obviously_. School hadn't let out yet. Without a second thought, Sage wiped away her tears and yanked the bike off the rack, before finally hopping on.

#####  **__________________________**

She was absolutely drenched by the time she reached the hospital. Despite the bike ride taking only five minutes, Sage was soaked to the core. She had thrown the stolen bike to the side of the entrance, leaving a trail of water as she ran into the hospital, and almost slipped on her own puddles. Pushing the doors open to the patient area, Sage almost ran head-first into a nurse, and practically splashed her with her wet hair.

"Sorry," she muttered, tucking a few wet strands behind her big ears. "Do you know where I can find –"

When she looked up, her eyes were suddenly pinned to the back of her dad's head. He was sitting up. His back was slouched. A gauze bandage was wrapped around his head. But most importantly, he was _alive_.

"Dad!" Sage exclaimed, shoving the nurse out of the way. At that moment, she didn't care if her actions were disrespectful. All she cared about was getting to Hugo as fast as possible, who was now looking at her with wide, brown eyes.

She stumbled through one of her puddle trails, slipping down the linoleum floors and catching herself on the end of her dad's cot. Hugo stood and helped her up, raising an eyebrow at her appearance. "Sage, what are you –" He looked down, watching her clothes drip onto the floor. "Why are you all wet?"

"Because I just rode a stolen bike through the rain!" She slapped a hand against her jeans, followed by a splash of water. "The hospital called my school and excused me from class. I thought – I don't know. I just thought about mom. I was worried and anxious –"

"Mr. Ramano?"

The father and daughter duo turned to watch one of the most beautiful men Sage had ever seen stride over to them. He had this ... Greek god-like structure to his face. His nose was perfectly straight and his hair was a mess of blonde curls, but gelled-back in the neatest way possible. Sage didn't know what to do, how to _act_. Her mouth threatened to hang open, and she suddenly felt guilty for dripping rainwater all over his clean, white floors. His bright, honey-gold eyes penetrated her in place and Sage was now questioning if she could truly move or not.

It seemed that her father felt the same way, because he, too, couldn't utter a word as the god-like doctor made his way over. Sage elbowed her dad in the gut, causing Hugo to mutter under his breath, " _Ow_!" He quickly lifted his hand to wave towards the doctor and sat back down on the cot. "That's me, Doc."

Sage read his name tag then: Dr. Carlisle Cullen. _Of-fucking-course_ , her conscious exhaled. _Explains the complete perfectness about him. Must run in the family._

Doctor Cullen flipped through the papers on his clipboard once he was in front of Hugo. "I'm Doctor Cullen. I oversaw the two tests done while you were here." He picked up on the sound of water hitting the floor, and carefully looked down at the puddle surrounding Sage's feet. Their eyes met as she mouthed, _Sorry_ , in his direction.

Carlisle turned back to her dad with a smile. "The tests were pretty trivial. We checked your vitals and scanned your brain for any damage. Everything came back okay, but you may experience some post-traumatic stress. Overall, you should be just fine."

"Then why is there a bandage on his head?" Sage asked, directing all the attention to her. She suddenly felt so small.

"Minor scrape on the left temple. The only significant damage should be to his car," Carlisle replied with a chuckle. "Are you his daughter?"

Sage glanced to her dad once again, who was staring at Doctor Cullen with narrowed eyes. _Not again_ , she thought, before jabbing her elbow into his side one more time. Hugo cleared his throat and nodded, "Yes, yes. This is my daughter, Sage."

"Sage Ramano," the doctor repeated, cocking his head to the side. Sage swallowed hard, and Hugo began to look between them at a rapid pace. "You must go to school with my kids."

"Uh – yeah. Yeah, I do." Sage said, pulling at the soaking wet straps of her backpack. The water under her shoes was getting bigger, practically creating a lake around her feet. Carlisle didn't seem to mind though. "Edward is actually my new –"

Hugo stood and grabbed his daughter's arm. "It's time for us to go," he said, loud enough for the whole hospital to hear, and sent Carlisle a wary glare. Sage yanked her arm out of her father's grip. "Thank you, Doctor Cullen."

"My pleasure, Mr. Ramano."

Hugo scowled at the doctor once again and finally began to usher his daughter out of the hospital, adding a fresh trail of water across the clean floors. His hand was on her back, hauling her forward, but she still managed to look over her shoulder to see Carlisle Cullen staring back at her. Before she could register the smile on his face, a pair of doors closed in front of her.


	4. TWENTY QUESTIONS

#### CHAPTER FOUR

##### TWENTY QUESTIONS

#####  **__________________________**

**THE** damage to Hugo's car wasn't as bad as Doctor Cullen made her think. He had gotten into a fender bender that ruined the roof of his car. A small accident with little consequences, but would probably cost him a little bit of extra change.

As Hugo and his daughter watched an employee haul the good ol' Avalanche onto a tow truck, he muttered to himself, "There's something up with that guy."

They stood underneath the awning outside the Forks Community Hospital, safe from the pouring rain and dark clouds. Sage looked over at her dad with a perplexed expression, noticing the way his eyes were crinkling on the sides. His nose scrunched up, as if he was smelling something foul.

"What guy?" Sage asked, lifting a brow. "Doctor Cullen?"

Hugo looked at her like the answer was obvious. "A man his age can't be _that_ pretty. Men are incapable of being that perfect."

She shrugged. "Fair point."

"Do you go to school with his kids?" Hugo pressed on. "You mentioned some Edward guy –"

Sage narrowed her eyes. "Edward Cullen is my new lab partner in Chem. But I hardly know the guy. We haven't spoken a word to each other."

"Well, maybe you should _start_." Hugo turned back to the tow truck and watched an employee hop back inside the driver's seat. Sage glanced in the same direction, and then back to her dad, who had a huge, fake grin plastered on his lips as he waved to the man in the truck. Through clenched teeth, he said, "There must be something up with that _whole family_. If he's so perfect, the others might be too."

"Dad, you _cannot_ just harass the Cullens –"

"There's something suspicious about them, Sage. I can _smell_ it." Their eyes connected and he tapped his long nose a few times. "Remember, _hunter senses_."

Sage's expression twisted. The fumes from the tow truck were definitely getting to his head.

#####  **__________________________**

The last thing Sage wanted was to ride her old, dusty bike to school while Hugo's car was in the shop, but she figured it was better than stealing one from some poor kid. She found it amongst the cobwebs and forgotten memories in the garage, and she began to wonder why her dad decided to keep it all these years. I mean, she hadn't ridden a bike since she was thirteen, after receiving a concussion from falling off. Maybe this was one of those moments when fate was on her side.

Sage had rolled her eyes as she yanked the bike out a dirty corner. _As if_ , she thought.

She had been suffering through one of the worst headaches of her life the entire day. Sage hardly ate at lunch, in fear that simply chewing her food would result in another stabbing pain to her temples. And maybe it was a good thing – the lunch ladies were serving some casserole today that had a lump of unidentifiable meat. (Margo Richards _claimed_ it was chicken, but was she really that smart?) Sage had picked up an apple, but took an Excedrin instead. Looking over at the Cullen table, she quickly met Edward's eyes and saw that he wasn't eating as well. At least they could agree on one thing: neither of them could stomach the food they served here.

By the time Chemistry rolled around, Sage debated on skipping out yet again. She knew this time there would be a penalty, and sadly, she didn't want to risk it. She had perfect attendance at every school she attended and that wasn't going to change now. Thankfully, her headache was wearing off, but she _really_ wasn't up for working alone again. Sage kept her head down as she made her way into the Chemistry classroom, bumping shoulders with students exiting. She lifted her head up and expected another day with an empty seat beside her.

Sitting on Riley's stool – yet again – was Edward _fucking_ Cullen.

Sage cocked an eyebrow, and Edward turned away from her line of vision to laugh at the name she gave him inside her head. However, Sage assumed he was making fun of something she wasn't aware of, and found her cheeks suddenly heating up. As she sat down on the stool, she took a quick whiff of her armpits to make sure she smelled okay. _Fresh as a daisy_ , she thought, before turning back to him.

He was staring at her.

"Hi, I'm Edward Cullen." He said, lifting his hand. "It's nice to meet you ..."

"Sage Ramano," she replied, taking his hand in her grip. She felt an electric shock cascade through her body at the temperature of his hand. It was cold – _extremely cold_. She quickly took her hand back and squeeze her own together, trying to gain some heat back into her system while wondering if humans could be coldblooded too.

Edward cleared his throat. "I'm sorry that I didn't introduce myself yesterday. You left class so suddenly."

It felt like his eyes were burning into her fucking _mind_ , as if he could read it. Sage almost felt uncomfortable staring at him, but she couldn't seem to look away. "Um – yeah, I had to go to the hospital. Personal reasons."

"Well," he sighed, sitting up straighter as the rest of their class filed into the tiny classroom, "I think Mrs. Leman felt bad that you were always working alone. Riley Biers doesn't seem to want to show up anymore. I told her that I could work with you, since I usually work by myself anyways."

"What – are you _that_ smart or something?" Sage snorted, only to receive a perplexed expression from Edward. He didn't laugh at all, or even batted an eyelash. Sage wondered if he ever blinked. She inhaled through her nostrils and continued, "So ... hey, do you know where Riley has been? I'm guessing he's sick, _but_ –"

Edward looked away. "No," he quipped, unable to make eye contact.

Sage lifted a brow, wishing those golden irises were fixated on her again, and she wasn't sure if it was because they were _that_ intoxicating or she simply liked looking at him. Probably both.

He was refusing to notice her now, which was might've been a good thing. Sage turned away and pulled out her notebook. Mrs. Leman closed the classroom door and began handing out two beakers on each desk, filled halfway with some clear liquid. Sage could only stare at her own reflection in the glass beaker, wondering if there was something off about her that Edward couldn't take anymore. She knew that she hadn't brushed her hair wellthis morning, but did it really _that_ look bad?

"We're going to continue our discussion about the discrepancies between a homogenous and heterogeneous mixture by experimenting with paper chromatography," Mrs. Leman explained, handing over the last three beakers. "Each of these glasses is filled with ethanol liquid. And you will be taking _these_ –" She held up a packet of filter papers. "To observe the colors each solution makes."

Sage waited patiently for Mrs. Leman to come back around with the papers, but took the short amount of time she had to peep at Edward from the corner of her eye. She felt his eyes on her again, and she swallowed hard before slowly facing him again.

"I don't mean to pry," he said, scooting his chair closer to hers. "Like you said, _personal reasons_. But did your hospital visit go okay?"

She pursed her lips. The slight interest in his tone surprised her. Why did he care? She didn't mean it in a mocking kind of way; she genuinely didn't understand why he was interested when they had only started speaking just minutes ago. Maybe it was a _Sage Thing_ , as Blaire liked to call it.

_"You push people away by not talking to them," she had said once, rolling a strawberry Dum Dum across her tongue. "And when you interact with someone new, you act all weird and wonder why they're speaking to you. It happened when we first met. You do it all the time, Sagey-poo."_

Sage blinked, bringing herself back to reality. Edward was waiting for an answer, and she found herself stammering to come up with one. "My – um – my dad got in an accident," she said, picking up the pack of filter paper when Mrs. Leman placed it on their workbench, along with a set of instructions. "Just a fender bender."

"Is he okay?"

She laughed awkwardly. "Are you trying to play twenty questions with me?"

His brow shot up for a second, before he chuckled quietly and slid the instructions over to him. Sage watched him with curiosity, noticing the way his honey-gold irises glazed over the paper. After skimming the instructions, he met her eyes again, a grin playing at the end of his lips. "I don't know if I particularly like that game."

"Well, I still think it's my turn to ask a question." Sage glanced to the instruction sheet again and picked up a green Sharpie, drawing a thin line onto one of the papers. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and glanced his way. "You've been looking sad lately."

"Is that a question?" He asked, raising a brow. Watching her do the same action with a different color marker, he repeated her steps, but used a red Sharpie instead. She was staring at him with half-lidded eyes, propping her chin onto her fist. "Why do you think I'm sad? I'm ..." He shook his head. "This is the first time we've ever spoken. Do you think you _know me_?"

Sage shrugged, turning one of the burners on and placing a beaker on top of it. "I'm an _observer_ , Edward Cullen. I don't talk as much as – let's say – Jessica Stanley, but I notice a lot." Her lips formed into a one-sided grin. "Besides, just about _everyone_ watches you guys. Your family is composed of, like, the most beautiful teenagers ever."

Edward released an uneasy chuckle.

Her cheeks went pink. "I didn't mean it like _that_ –"

"Sure, you didn't," he muttered softly, giggles soon turning into something softer, more _uncomfortable_ , as if he wasn't used to showing that much emotion. Sage watched his shoulders tense up. He swallowed hard, refusing to meet her stare again. Instead, he turned on the burner closest to him, trying to put up a guard between them.

The silence was killing her.

Sage sighed and turned on the switch for the last burner, allowing it a few minutes to heat up. As the seconds went on, the tension between them became thicker, and Sage searched for something – _anything_ – to talk about. But she just wasn't _good_ with people and she never would be.

Edward's stare was on her again as she reached out to the beaker on her right. From the tips of her fingers, she lifted her hand to suspend the filter paper with a green line. She suddenly heard Edward's breath hitched, though nothing happened. Sage turned her head to him, but that was probably her first mistake.

The water was suddenly boiling up to the surface, cascading over the edge of the beaker. It combusted into the air and sprayed hot water all over their table. The filter paper flew out of Sage's grip. Edward stood to move her out of the way, but it was already too late. With one arm covering her face, the boiling hot water made contact with her hand, and a searing pain emerged.

Sage yelped. She had never heard herself scream so loud _in her life_. Once the explosion had ceased, she brought her hand down, but she was clutching it so tightly that her skin was turning white. Glancing over her shoulder, she realized that _everyone_ was looking at her. Some kid even dropped his pencil. Sage looked back down at her hand and felt every muscle inside of her body tense up.

The area of the burn was red – a _deadly_ and _electrifying_ crimson – and it was oozing blood.

She didn't want to look at him, but she did – oh, _fuck_ , why did she do that?! – because her eyes were truly attracted to his like magnets. Sage never wanted to look away. She wanted to be reminded of that honey-gold for the rest of her life.

He was _horrified_. It looked like he hadn't seen blood before. He kept his hands at his sides and balled them into fists. His eyes were dark, fixated right on her hand, while his feet were moving farther and farther away. His jaw was clenched. Sage opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't. Her whole body was on fucking _fire_ and it wasn't just from the burn.

A hand was placed on her shoulder. "Sage –"

She jumped out of the person's grip, almost crashing right into Edward. Her wide, brown eyes focused on Mrs. Leman. The teacher pursed her lips, as if she didn't quite know what to say. Sage's eyes flickered around the room again. Everyone was still watching. Everyone was still quiet. It was like someone had died.

Clutching her hand to her chest, Sage swung her bag over her shoulder. "I'm –" She stopped herself and sighed heavily. "I'm going to the nurse's office."

She looked back over her shoulder for a second longer. Edward had released his fists, lifting his hand just a little, as if he was reaching out to her. But he wasn't. In fact, he hardly moved a muscle.

#####  **__________________________**

After rubbing an intense amount of Neosporin cream on her burn, Sage looped a bandage all around her hand. The nurse had told her that it looked like a second-degree burn, so as soon as she got home, she was in her bathroom, one end of the gauze roll in her mouth as she cautiously wrapped the other end around the wound. It hurt to flex her fingers and she had absolutely _no idea_ how she'd be able to write notes while her dominant hand looked like an old doll's. Truthfully, she didn't _have_ to wrap it in some much gauze, but ... she didn't like to look at it. The burn was just a reminder of _embarrassingly chaotic_ she was.

Thankfully, she wouldn't have to explain this to her dad tonight. He called earlier to tell her that he wouldn't be home until late: "You know how Blaire recommended my business to her cousin's family? Well, they like me, and I think if I get to the source of their carpenter ant infestation tonight, they'll tell me more about their ancestor's history. For my notes, ya' know?" It was just her tonight in their old, dusty, quiet house.

Sage flipped through just about a thousand TV channels before she settled on one that was playing _Can't Buy Me Love_. She wasn't that into vintage rom-coms, but any movie involving two polar opposites entering a fake relationship had to be funny, right?

Setting the remote by her TV in the kitchen, Sage began to cook one of the few dishes she excelled at, an American classic: macaroni and cheese. She allowed the pasta to come to a boil while simultaneously studying from her history textbook for tomorrow's quiz. She placed her book in the window right in front of the stove, propped in between two succulents that she always forgot to water. Her brain was just about filled to the brink with information, and she honestly couldn't wait until she could take classes she was interested in once she got to college.

It was only just months away now. Soon, she'd be in Phoenix, leaving this shit show of a town goodbye.

Sage lifted the lid off the pot to see that the water was half-way boiled. Turning back to the TV, she realized that the movie was already at the part where Ronald was offering Cindy one-thousand dollars to be his girlfriend for a month. Had she really wasted that much time just mindlessly reading her textbook? Sage huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and wondering how Patrick Dempsey hardly aged.

The timer was going to go off soon, so Sage spun back around to the stove, ready to turn down the heat, but then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Lifting her head to the window, she saw a figure just over the edge of her history textbook. A body shrouded in darkness, almost covered by the range of trees surrounding her house. Sage furrowed her brow and blinked, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. Setting her bandaged hand on the lip of the stove, she leaned further, trying to get a better look. She wished she hadn't.

Gold eyes stared back at her – burning into her irises, sinking into her flesh. The sight was so familiar that she almost placed a hand on the window.

Sage's breath hitched.

Water boiled over the surface of the pot. The timer began screeching. Sage yelped and removed her burned hand so fast, desperately squirming to shut off the stove. She ripped the pot off the hot burner, watching the water slowly dissipate around the stove. Sage loosed a sigh of relief and placed the bandaged hand on her chest. _If I managed to burn this hand yet again ..._ She shook her head at the thought.

Those gold eyes filled her vision, and Sage swallowed hard, pushing untucked strands of hair behind her ears. Her breathing was erratic, but she still needed to look back, to allow the golden light to drink her in. She turned her head to the window, holding her breath.

There was nothing but darkness.


End file.
